By 1981, Quinn Martin was out of the television business. His production company had been sold to Taft Broadcasting, which, at the time, made QM a sister company to animation giant Hanna-Barbera, but after 1980's "The Return of Frank Cannon", QM no longer existed.
ABC had been interested in reviving one of Martin's more successful series for the network, The F. B. I., but with a new look. Unfortunately, public opinion had turned against the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the interim, and folks weren't interested in Today's F. B. I., which, like the original, aired on Sunday nights, another attempt at reclaiming an audience that had long moved on.
MTV was barely a month old when Today's F. B. I. launched in the fall of 1981. The real-life F. B. I. opted to work with Columbia Pictures Television (now Sony Pictures Television) instead of Warner Bros., which co-produced the original series. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. thus was not brought back. Instead, executive producer David Gerber, in one of his last projects for CPT before moving on, brought in another TV vet, Mike Connors (ex-Mannix) to lead the new team, which otherwise was comprised of younger agents, perhaps unintentionally meant to attract the youth demographic.
The Rap Sheet offers the intro:
I have no memory of seeing the show, so no rating.
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